Almost every woman in the world has to cope with menstruation at some point throughout her life. She deserves appreciation for how she spends her menstrual period and does her obligations. She has to go through a lot of physical and emotional pain during her periods. So, why has society taught us that talking about our periods or menstrual cycles is something we should be ashamed of? Why do we feel the need to hide our tampons when we have to go to the toilet during our period? Read this amazing story of how a woman dealt with her male coworker who had problems with tampons.
Source: Reddit
I work in a fast paced healthcare environment where every minute counts and I have both male and female co-workers on my shift.
We have lockers with opaque doors where we’re allowed to store our things. When I’m in the office area I leave mine unlocked for easy access and I’ve started keeping a box of tampons in my locker. I’ve told my female co-workers if they’re in a hurry and need a tampon they’re welcome to just open my locker (when it’s unlocked and I’m in the office) and take one, no problem.
I got called into my boss’s office the other day because a male coworker of mine complained that me keeping tampons in my locker was “disgusting” and he hated that he could see the box whenever my locker was opened. My boss (a male) told me that some men were really sensitive to “this type of thing” and that I should try hiding them in a different type of box so I wouldn’t offend my coworkers. I asked what the point was because my coworkers would see someone reaching into a “crackers/pop tarts, etc” box and taking out a tampon instead of food anyway. My boss got all huffy and told me that it was for the best and I needed to do it.
Well, fine.
I made a cover for my tampon box that said “Mother Earth’s Bloody Nutrients Bars: with extra gooey, nutritious filling!” with a photo of a bloody bathtub and placed it on the box.
That was two days ago, and I saw the male co-worker open my locker (trying to be sneaky) and he paled when he read the box, got all angry, and I received an email from my boss that my cover “wasn’t funny” and that I need to take it down.
… So I emailed our HR person a copy of the email as well as a summary of what happened and photos of the lockers, the box, and the cover. I also suggested that the male coworker sit somewhere where he didn’t have a direct line of sight to my locker if it really offended him so much. She thought it was freaking hilarious and said I “followed my supervisor’s instructions” and so I was fine.
Nothing else has been done yet, and I’m mostly angry that my time was spent on something as stupid as this and not on patient work.
What would you do in her situation? Any advice
Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
